Echoes of Unity: The Shared Musical Memory of Safavid Tabriz and Ottoman Konya

Öz

Throughout history, Tabriz and Konya have stood as two of the most significant centers of cultural and mystical life in the Islamic world. However, the musical interactions between Safavid-era Tabriz and Ottoman Konya, particularly within the Mevlevi tradition, have rarely been examined through a systematic academic framework. This study aims to illuminate these connections by analyzing the modal, instrumental, and mystical correspondences between the two traditions through a multidisciplinary approach combining historical musicology, comparative modal analysis, and archival research.

Drawing on Ottoman and Safavid sources such as theoretical treatises, court manuscripts, and Sufi ritual documents, the research reconstructs the potential transmission of musicians and musical knowledge following the Ottoman conquest of Tabriz in 1514 during the Battle of Chaldiran. It explores whether musicians trained in the Safavid court of Tabriz migrated to the Ottoman Empire and how their musical practices might have shaped the Mevlevi repertoire in Konya. The study suggests that the Safavid modal system, deeply rooted in the theoretical legacy of Abd al-Qadir al-Maraghi, contributed to the evolution of Ottoman makam structures and to the spiritual aesthetics of Mevlevi music. The research addresses three central questions:

How did the modal system developed in Safavid Tabriz influence the formation of Mevlevi ceremonial music? Did musicians trained in the Safavid court migrate to the Ottoman Empire, and if so, in what ways did they contribute to Mevlevi practice? What common modal and instrumental features existed between the mystical music of Tabriz and the Mevlevi tradition of Konya?

By answering these questions, this work uncovers a previously neglected cultural transmission linking the Safavid and Ottoman musical worlds. It argues that this interaction not only enriched the Ottoman makam tradition but also shaped the spiritual and aesthetic layers of Sufi music within Mevlevi lodges. Ultimately, the research reconsiders Ottoman–Safavid relations through the prism of shared musical memory, offering an original contribution to the field of historical musicology.